The objective of the proposed research is to investigate the relationship between moderate drinking and coronary heart disease (CHD) mortality. A large number of autopsy, ecologic, case-control, and cohort studies have reported a U shaped relationship between moderate drinking and CHD mortality, with alcoholic beverage consumption in the one to four drinks per day range being associated with lower rates of mortality than lower and higher rates of consumption. If this relationship is causal and runs from moderate drinking to improved coronary health, an added level of complexity may characterize the formulation of alcoholic beverage excise tax policy. The data sets proposed for the research are the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 1971-74, and the National Health and Nutrition Examination Follow-up Survey, 1982-84. Specific questions addressed in the research include: Is the statistical association between moderate drinking and CHD mortality explained by a correlation with confounding variables such as income, education, diet, or lifestyle that actually underlie the relationship but have not been controlled for in previous studies? Does the statistical association between moderate drinking and CHD mortality hold up across different socioeconomic, age, and sex groups? Does the direction of causality in the moderate drinking-CHD relationship run form moderate drinking to improved CHD health or from good health to moderate drinking?